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com by Hania Elgawsaky

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“How does Angie Thomas’ use of symbolism in “The Hate U Give” explore systemic and structural
discrimination of African-Americans in 21st-century USA?”

A racist society is one that discriminates against a particular racial minority. When that discrimination

expands to the inclusion of policies entrenched within the socioeconomic and political structure of

society, it is known as “structural racism”. In addition, if that discrimination is embedded within the

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functioning of institutions, it is known as “systemic racism”. These two dimensions of racism are

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explored in “The Hate U Give”, a young adult fictional novel written by Angie Thomas in 2017. Spurred

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by the police shooting of Oscar Grant in 2009 and motivated by her personal experience as a black
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woman growing up in the Southern United States, Angie’s narrative exposes the detrimental effects of
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discriminatory systems on the daily lives of African American communities. (Thomas, 2020) Throughout
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the novel, the use of symbolism is particularly predominant, and is employed as a tool to examine the
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implications of systemic and structural racism by focusing on the humanitarian side of this larger societal
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issue.
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Touching into the complex daily life of an ordinary black teenager named Starr, the novel revolves around

the unlawful murder of one of her childhood best friends, Khalil. Pulled over by a police officer while

driving, Khalil reaches out to take a hairbrush from his car during the short interaction. Blinded by racial

stereotypes, the officer confuses the hairbrush with a gun and does not award Khalil the benefit of the

doubt. In an attempt of self-defense from the perceived danger, the policeman shoots the innocent

unarmed teenager in front of his childhood best friend's petrified eyes. Thomas employs the hairbrush as a

symbol to denounce the systemic criminalization of black youth, a wider recurrent theme in the novel. A

banal object used for such a mundane activity as brushing one’s hair is viewed as a lethal weapon when in
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the hands of a black person. As mentioned by one of the characters: “The handle of the hairbrush was

thick enough, black enough, for him to assume it was a gun”.“And Khalil was black enough”(page 91).

The author uses the symbol of the hairbrush to denounce the double-standards ingrained within the depths

of the American police system and to demonstrate how black youths will always be seen as a threat, their

sole weapon being their skin color.

Thomas employs a second symbol, the number on the officer’s badge - 115 - to highlight another

manifestation of structural racism. In her narration, Starr reduces the officer’s identity to a number that

symbolizes the systemic racism endemic to the American police system. The dehumanization of the

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officer shows that police brutality against minorities is not limited to one particular officer’s individual

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actions, but is rather a tapestry of a larger culture of discrimination that underpins the law enforcement
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system. Furthermore, Thomas continues to employ the symbol of number 115 to denounce the judicial
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system, as the discrimination progresses even after Khalil’s death. The author forecasts this event earlier
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in the novel when she says: “Did he realize that if he does become a hashtag, some people will only see
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him as a drug dealer?” (page 26) Indeed, later in the story, the police department successfully attempts
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to rationalize and justify Khalil’s death by portraying him as an alleged drug dealer with the intention of
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exonerating 115. The loss of the case against the officer in Court helps show how discrimination against
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African Americans extends into the justice system. Not only has Khalil been illegally murdered, but he is

also depicted as a criminal after his death to justify the mistake of a white man. Meanwhile, the police

officer, responsible for the murder of an innocent civilian, is deemed innocent by a justice system that

does not pursue justice. Once again, both symbols - the hairbrush and number 115 - are employed by the

author in order to highlight how deeply rooted racism is in institutions.

Throughout the novel, Angie depicts the internal conflict in Starr’s identity as she lives in an African

American neighborhood while attending an upper-class, elite high school. The juxtaposition between both

realities experienced by Starr helps the reader identify the crude reality of racial disparities within
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American society and visualize the sharp distinctions between the white majority (symbolized by

Williamson Prep School) and the black community (symbolized by Garden Heights). Starr grows up in a

largely African American neighborhood stricken by poverty, violence and disorder. The name of the

neighborhood, “Garden Heights”, was deliberately chosen by the author in order to further highlight how

neighborhood segregation can lead to structural racism. As we know, a garden needs fertile soil and

constant care and support in order to grow. Nonetheless, two main factors inhibit this growth and limit the

neighborhood’s ability to develop; the first one being the neglect experienced by the residents of the

neighborhood, who lack the same opportunities as their non-black counterparts living in more affluent

districts. Furthermore, the second factor would be the infertile soil, a symbol of the discriminative

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structure that underlies the functioning of life in “Garden Heights”. In attempts to increase the fertility of

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this soil, the authorities unsuccessfully inject a series of fertilizers in the neighborhood. Subsequently, the
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“garden” does not blossom with flowers, symbolizing opportunity; it blossoms with drugs, trapping this
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black community in a vicious cycle of violence, crime, and poverty. This is encapsulated in the quote:
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Drugs come from somewhere, and they're destroying our community. You got folks like Brenda,
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who think they need them to survive, and then you got the Khalils who think they need to sell them
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to survive. The Brendas can't get jobs unless they're clean, and they can't pay for rehab unless
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they got jobs. When the Khalil's get arrested for selling drugs, they either spend most of their life

in prison, another billion-dollar industry or they have a hard time getting a real job and probably

start selling drugs again. That’s the hate they’re giving us, a system designed against us. (page

72)

As Garden Heights is neglected by the rest of the society, the residents had to forge an independent

structure that would allow them economic opportunity - the drug market. The protagonist’s father says:

“Our schools don’t get the resources to equip you like Williamson does. It’s easier to find some crack than

it is to find a good school around here” (page 72), further highlighting how the lack of investment and

governmental indifference lead these neighborhoods to vicious cycles of violence and poverty.
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In conclusion, Angie Thomas successfully employs symbolism to showcase how both systemic and

structural racism manifest in an ordinary black teenager’s daily life. Through this assessment, one

particular pattern emerges: she uses symbolism with the aim of denouncing and further highlighting

different dimensions of racism, thus providing a more complete picture of the existence of racial

discrimination in a society. By delving into the police and criminal systems from the lens of a teenager,

Thomas suggests how the criminalization of the black community extends beyond a matter of white vs.

black. For instance, later in the book, her father is forced on the ground by a black officer, showing how

police brutality is deeply embedded within the police system and could even be internalized by minorities.

Furthermore, through the portrayal of daily life in Garden Heights, Thomas examines structural racism by

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humanizing the neighborhood’s residents and delving into the more profound intentions behind drug

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dealers’ choices, whose last resort for survival is the narcotics market. The novel ends with a list of names
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of victims of police brutality asserting that these murders are not an isolated case, but hint to the existence
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of a larger structure of oppression designed against black Americans and other minorities, that must be
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addressed.
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Despite the novel being written in the 2010s and representing a “modern” perspective, the theme of
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structural and systemic discrimination against minorities (whether racial, ethnic, religious, or others) is a
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universal and timeless one that should be addressed for the prevention of potential disasters. Indeed, one

must remember that the mentality that underlies systemic and structural discrimination can lead to

abhorrent levels of cruelty, as witnessed through the eyes of the international community during WW2 in

Germany, or in the 90s, in Rwanda. Undeniably, discrimination in the hands of states and larger

institutions can lead to deliberate systematic destruction, mass extermination, and genocide.

Works cited and consulted:

1. Thomas, A. (2020). Angie Thomas. Retrieved November, 2022, from https://angiethomas.com/

2. Thomas, A. (2017). The Hate U Give (1st ed.). B+B